Equivalency
by lassunslaufen
Summary: A simple mission turns out to be fatal for Edward Elric. After being rushed to the hospital, Edward realizes that the chimeras were really homunculi, but nobody wonders why Edward knows of this knowledge, until it is almost too late. Shipless.
1. Chapter 1

Equivalency

By: dontwaitupxx

* * *

"…_To obtain, something of equal value must be lost…"_

"…_but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…"_

* * *

Chapter One:

It was a cold and rainy day, that day November 13. Edward Elric stood in front of Laboratory Five, his red jacket flapping in the breeze, and his blonde hair blowing across his face in strands. He had a determined expression on his face, one that matched his expression to Roy Mustang when the Colonel had assigned him the task of catching the chimera that had gotten loose from Laboratory Five. Except the expression was one of pure hatred towards the lab itself. He never had wanted to go back in there ever again, but if he wanted Mustang to give him the promotion that he had been striving for since he had gotten into the military when he was twelve, then he would have to play by Mustang's dirty rules.

His expressions of determination and of hatred looked identical to the person watching. Only Edward knew that inside, it was a hell of a lot different.

So there Edward was, and knowing that the chimera did not have anywhere else to go now, he started walking forward and into the building.

There were many things about Laboratory Five that had given Edward the chills when he had first arrived back there. He had completely forgotten about how eerie it was when you stepped in. Edward thought that he would never have to feel those feelings ever again, but his life had decided to stab him in the back and push him into the direction of one of Edward's greatest regrets and embarrassments.

When Edward walked into the building, the walls seemed to recognize his return. Immediately when Edward closed the door, the walls turned a dark shade of gray, seeming to indicate that he was not welcome there. He ignored them. He held a candle lamp up, and for once, wished that he had the Flame Alchemist there to light the way, but he would only remind him about how he was still the dog of the military. Even standing there at the age of sixteen, he was nothing more than a dog…

…or maybe a dog was more than he.

Whether he was only a dog, more or less, he was somewhat glad that he was able to go on this mission alone. Roy had told Edward that the chimera had escaped unwillingly. The fact that a State Alchemist was going to catch the chimera was only for safety precautions. If the chimera thought of someone to be a threat to their lives, then the chimera would surely attack. A State Alchemist could surely take care of a chimera on frenzy. The State had no intentions of harming the beast, but after it was given back into the hands of those who know watched and controlled over Laboratory Five, it was out of the State's hands to what was done to the chimera. Although, the State in general wouldn't care if the beast lived or died for all it cost them. It was Edward who wanted to be as gentle as he could be with the chimera, but he wouldn't back down if the chimera pounced.

Edward's ideal mission would be to head into Laboratory Five, find the chimera with ease, restrain it peacefully, and return it to its owners and still have time before dusk devoured the day to start his report and hopefully finish it by the night's end. Then he hoped that he would be able to turn in his report the next day, and Mustang would promote him from dog, to maybe a cat or turtle. Whatever was next and got more respect than a dog Edward would aim for…

…but before Edward got a promotion, he'd need to get his self confidence back, and stop calling himself a dog. Just maybe Edward would have some _real _luck and he would be promoted to a Lieutenant…

…Edward was probably thinking too full headed.

As Edward walked down the dark, narrow hallway with the candle only illuminating the first couple feet in front of him, he had the faintest feeling that he was being followed; or watched for that matter. Edward turned around to look behind himself and saw no humans, no chimeras, and no homunculi, he was happy to report. But he didn't see the chimera. Or all of it anyways. As Edward was turning around, something hit him straight in the chest. He saw the faintest sight of a tail being whipped back as he was propelled backwards. He hit the metal wall hard with his head. Edward saw stars, but managed to keep conscious.

The tail that had knocked into him had blown the wind out of him and for the first few seconds, he couldn't catch a breath. But sooner than he thought, he was up on his feet, taking a defensive position towards whomever or _what_ever had hit him. His answer came soon. His attacker looked up and its face was illuminated by Edward's candle lamp that he had dropped in the hit.

It was indeed a chimera. _The _chimera. It had the face of a human, but it was twisted in a way to the extent that Edward wasn't able to recognize the man he once was if he had known him in his travels, which in some ways was a good thing. He didn't want to know who the unfortunate soul was that was alchemically fused with another creature's body. He seemed to have the body of some beast, like a bear or a mountain lion. His tail though, seemed to come from an amphibian. It was large enough that it could be from an alligator, but seemed to have the smoothness of a turtle's belly. All together, it made the infamous chimera that had been the news across central for the stunning day and a half. News dies easily in Central because there is always something else to report.

Edward thought about what Roy had said about the chimera earlier that day. Mustang had said that the chimera would not do any harm unless its life would be threatened. Edward wasn't sure how he had threatened the chimera's life, but then he knew that you couldn't be sure with chimeras. For all he knew, this chimera was a savage who liked to eat humans. Edward had already given up two of his limbs. He didn't want to give up anymore.

The chimera looked to Edward, and the twisted face on its head grew even more twisted and it gave a whimper. It spoke in hardly a whisper, but enough for Edward to hear.

"I do not want to go back…" The chimera whispered, "I will not go back… no matter what it takes… you will not take me back…"

Edward wasn't sure what to say. Sure, the chimera was smart and knew that he was coming for him. Edward spoke slowly.

"I've come here to collect you," Edward tested; the chimera made no moves to deny, "You need to go back. You need to go back to where you belong."

The words sounded all wrong in his mouth. He knew that if he were in the chimera's place, God forbid that he ever be, that he wouldn't want to go back to whatever test lab they had stored him at. But Edward couldn't ignore his job again. Whenever emotions got in his way, something normally went wrong. It was a custom.

"I will not go back… you will not take me… I will die before I go back there… if this hell of a life isn't already death, but of purgatory…"

Those were the last words spoken before the infamous fight between State Alchemist Edward Elric, and the chimera began.

* * *

It said that it was six o'clock on the Roman numeral clock on the edge of Riza's desk. Normally, Hawkeye would be out on field work or helping Roy with paperwork, but today, she had her own paperwork to fill out.

She didn't like this at all. The Fullmetal Alchemist said that he would be done no later than dusk. According to her window by her desk, it was already dusk, and no glimpse of the sun could be seen. She tried to keep herself concentrated with the reports that she had gotten from other field workers and needed to look over, but only managed in pacing her fingers along her desk, making a taping noise that kept her occupied. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. She lifted herself from her seat and headed for her door. Once opened, she poked her head out and looked both ways. There was nobody to be seen, but it was okay if she was. She had her gun after all, even when she wasn't on field expedition. She headed over to where the offices were for the higher ranking Colonels; Roy Mustang's office.

She passed by lower ranking officers who saluted her on her way to Mustang's office. She kept walking. She felt as if she was giving some ort of important news to Roy from the praise that she was getting. Either that or she felt as if she was going to her death sentence, and her fellow officers were wishing her best, but she ignored those thoughts.

She stood outside of the Flame Alchemist's office. Taking a deep breath, she sighed to herself, and then knocked. She heard a swift "enter" and then she let herself in.

Sitting at his desk was Roy Mustang, and upon his desk, were recognized as the documents on the chimera that had escaped. She began to feel relief that she wasn't the only one who realized of Edward's disappearance. Whenever Edward is late from duty, it's normally because something bad had happened. Either that or he ran off to find the Philosopher's Stone, and the military _would _have to track down Edward if he had decided to go search for that brain crushing dream again.

"Is there something that you need, Hawkeye?" Mustang asked from his desk, not taking his eyes off of the case that was in front of him.

Riza took another deep breath, and then she said, "I'm worried about Edward."

"Aren't we all?" Roy said, and then laughed, "Someday that kid is going to blow himself up with all of the alchemy catastrophes that he commits."

"He should have come back by now. It doesn't take long to capture a willing chimera."

"Or does it?" Roy looked up from his work, "Perhaps I made the wrong decision on letting Edward go without a fellow military officer to accompany him. It's better to be with someone than no one, isn't that right, Hawkeye?"

"Yes sir," Hawkeye saluted, "But I've come here to request to round up a search party for him, sir. I believe that if Edward is late, than something has happened to him. Other than that, he keeps his word and does come back when he says that he will."

"That is true in some cases, lieutenant," Roy mused, "but I know of many cases when Edward hasn't kept his word, but he had came back fine. Do as you wish, but I'll stay here in case he comes back, which I do entirely have a gut feeling about. It's only one chimera; a _willing _chimera. How entirely difficult could it be?"

* * *

Immediately, the chimera lashed out at Edward with his claws. Edward was taken by surprise and took the entire blow from the chimera on his auto mail arm, which comparing how much the chimera tried, it would only need some shinning when Edward got back to central as he awaited his promotion.

Maybe at the time Edward was being too cocky. Maybe if he had decided to take his eyes off of the chimera, then he'd have noticed the chimera's "friends" come up.

From behind, another chimera clawed at Edward's back. Edward cried out from the unawareness and stumbled forward. After a few seconds, Edward didn't feel the pain anymore. Adrenaline did that to you occasionally. As Edward stumbled back up, he found himself rounded into a corner. He saw himself facing a hefty total of three chimeras. Edward wasn't sure why there were more. Only one had escaped, only one had been reported… unless…

"I helped my friends escape…" The first chimera said vaguely. It was more than obvious that he had helped the other chimeras escape.

Edward was now easily out numbered and now he was out matched. Edward wished that he had asked for at least another solder to back him up. Maybe having Hawkeye there with her shotguns wasn't a bad idea now that Edward thought about it. But Edward had to face himself with the cold, hard truth that was almost as cold and as hard as the metal he was backed up against. He was outnumbered. He was outmatched. He couldn't handle all of the chimeras at once, but he could most certainly try. These chimeras didn't look like that they would be backing down and deciding to surrender anytime soon. They wanted freedom. They wanted rights, but finding freedom and rights in this world was hard to come by. Even for Edward.

Edward wasn't sure whether chimeras were supposed to be friendly and peace loving, or if they were really nasty and sought for revenge. He thought that maybe it was a little bit of both, or one or the other, dependant on who the person or animals were that made up the chimeras, but these chimeras seemed to come from people or animals that had it rough. Or maybe they just didn't like Edward.

It was probably a little bit of both.

Had the chimeras wanted to kill Edward or just injure him enough to the point where he couldn't stop them was entirely futile. It was the same outcome either way. If the chimeras killed him there, then Edward would have to go through much less agony. But if he were to be only injured, He might have lived through the agony, and then he would die, before the military would arrive there, curious to know why Edward hadn't shown back up at headquarters.

Edward made the first move, but regretted his decision immediately.

In one swift movement, Edward used his alchemy to make his auto mail into a sharp blade. That was his first mistake. He swung out his blade in an attempt to defend himself; his second mistake. The moment that Edward used his alchemy, the chimeras backed away, trying to stay away from the very elements that had changed them. Next, when Edward lashed out his blade, he missed from misjudging how far away the chimeras were. Using this mistake as an opportunity, the second chimera, the one that had slashed Edward's back, hit Edward over to the nearby wall. He hit Edward like he weighed nothing; Edward crashed against the metal with an Earth shuddering _bang. _

Edward moved onto is hands and knees as he felt the upcoming of materials up his throat. He released them violently; throwing up more blood than he thought was healthy. But how was puking up blood healthy anyways?

The third chimera picked Edward up by the foot, his body limp; helpless. The chimera held Edward against the metal wall as the other two clawed at him as if killing him meant their freedom, which in some ways it was. Edward didn't scream. His screams were reserved for homunculi.

But as if a violent angel had come to save Edward, he heard one of his favorite sounds, no matter how disturbing the sound really was.

It was the sound of a gunshot.

But it wasn't just any gunshot. It was the sound of Hawkeye's. He knew this because her gun had a ring to it like no other. Her gun had a personality. After the first shot went out, the Chimera that was holding Edward up fell to the ground, Edward falling the opposite direction.

From that moment on, Edward didn't move.

Hawkeye shot the two other chimeras. They both fell down as easily as the first did. So much for not harming the chimeras.

Hawkeye and several other solders that were behind her started running towards the scene. Thankfully, Edward was away from the chimeras and didn't have any dead chimera parts fallen onto him, but that was the only thankful thing about this situation. That and also the fact that Edward might be alive, which was still yet to be determined.

Hawkeye knelt down by Edward, "Edward, Ed! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

It was a dumb question by appearances, but the fact that he gave no answer approved that he wasn't in the dearest bit alright. Hawkeye quickly checked for his pulse on his wrist that wasn't all slashed up and found that he did have a pulse, but it was near faint, and if someone didn't have a sensitive touch like herself, then they would make the assumption that he was dead. Edward wouldn't give up that easily though, but Edward was in dire need of help at that moment, or he might just give up.

Hawkeye made no hesitation to scoop him up in her arms and to head to the door as quickly as possible.

"Go up ahead! Make sure that the car is ready. Inform my driver of Edward's condition and tell him to head to the military hospital as soon as I get into the car." Hawkeye didn't care who decided to do it, but it was urgent that someone be the one to do it. It turned out that she got three volunteers, probably too afraid of Hawkeye's temper if someone didn't do it, rather than for Edward's sake.

Edward had hardly gotten into the building to find the chimeras, yet he had hardly gotten out. If Hawkeye didn't remember that Edward said that he would be done in no more than two hours, then no one would have come for him.

They made it outside in no time at all, but with no time to waste. As fast as she was to get in there and get Edward out, she hopped into the backseat of her car and her driver sped off. Behind her, other cars followed, knowing by Edward's appearance of where they were going.

Constantly, Hawkeye checked Edward's pulse to make sure he was still alive. Amazingly he was and seemed to be breathing on his own, but it was in labor.

She was urgent to get to the hospital as soon as she could and to get Edward safe so she could call up Colonel Mustang and General Armstrong. They needed to hear about this and to come and see this for themselves.

All the while, Riza was scared. She was scared that Edward wouldn't make it. That the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist wouldn't survive the trip or even in the hospital. But she knew that she could not let herself think that way. The Fullmetal Alchemist had to make it through. He just had to.

* * *

Please review and tell me how I did for my first fan fiction for Fullmetal Alchemist.  
Everything will come together soon. Please bear with me until then.

With love,

dontwaitupxx


	2. Chapter 2

Equivalency

By: liveyourlifexx

* * *

"…_in order to obtain, something of equal value most be lost…"_

"…_but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…"_

* * *

Chapter Two:

Before the car even came to a stop, Riza was out of the car door, slamming the door behind her, and running towards the entrance of the military hospital with Edward in her arms. Many officers had gone ahead once they had heard the news to inform the hospital of Edward's arrival. Another group had gone to inform Colonel Mustang and General Armstrong. Nobody knew exactly where Al was, but he was sure to be found and informed. Officers were even going to go the extra hundred miles to inform Pinako and Winry Rockwell out in the country… and it was meant quite literally.

The moment that Hawkeye stepped into the hospital, she was over run by the amount of nurses that came her way. There had to have been at least a dozen who came and took Edward out of her arms and out to another direction. She caught one glimpse of Edward and instantly saw that he was pale and bloody; not very good traits to put together. She had not seen how pale he was in the car rush here from the lack of light from the twilight.

Before she could comprehend exactly what was going on, Riza had another nurse pulling her away from the scene. She was thankful for that. Riza needed to get a chance to catch her breath. It felt like she hadn't taken a real breath since she entered Laboratory Five.

"Let me take you to a restroom so that you can wash up, Lieutenant Hawkeye." The nurse said calmly. Even the people who worked at the military hospital knew what her second name was. It was a comforting thought that the military and the military hospital threw information at each other's big heads at times. Riza was glad that she did not have to remind the people here what she preferred to be called.

She worked through what the nurse had just said to her and finally was able to comprehend the words just spoken to her. She looked down to her uniform to see that it was stained red. She had Edward's blood on her uniform. She looked upward and inhaled deeply, trying not to make herself cry. She quickly asked the nurse if she could call the military to send an extra uniform down for herself. The nurse nodded once, leaving her outside the entrance to the restroom.

She stepped inside, instantly figuring out that the restroom smelled many times more sterile than the hospital itself, which had an overwhelming smell alone, let alone the restroom's unique sterile scent. She went to a mirror and found herself smiling, no matter how intense the moment was at the moment. She herself looked like she had come back from a bloody execution. She had stains of dark red on both of her cheeks, one about three centimeters higher than the other, and on her uniform, she had dark blood streaked across her torso. She quickly took off her jacket and saw that her white shirt under it was not stained in even the lightest pink. She gave herself a small smile. At least her jacket was the only thing to go through the execution. She grabbed the cloth towel from the hanger beside the sink and pulled the lever cranking the water out and soaked the towel. She washed off her face and hands of the dark, red blood, wondering how much that boy could loose and still be alive. He was only sixteen; not even fully grown yet, regardless of how little he had grown in the past four years.

She flipped her jacket over her arm and it rested there, the stains looking up, and she headed out the door. Once outside, she noticed that not much had changed except that there were no nurses in sight, except for the secretary working on paperwork behind a desk. The only other difference was that there were a few more blue jackets in sight, and one which she craved to say, "I told you so,"

She walked numbly over to Roy Mustang and saluted. He saluted back, and they engaged in conversation.

"Tell me, Riza, what happened?" Mustang asked in a hushed tone. He probably did not want any of the other officers to overhear and start asking numerous questions which most he would not know the answer too.

Hawkeye knew that the only time that Roy said her real name that it was for a serious matter. This was no exception.

"The chimeras weren't willing, sir. They attacked Edward mercilessly." Hawkeye said.

"Did you say chimeras? And that _they_?" Roy asked, completely unaware.

"Yes, sir. There were three of them sir."

"Were they disposed of? If not, then how did you get Edward out?" Mustang asked.

"Yes, they were killed. I shot them. If not, Edward would have most certainly died there. There is still no guarantee that he will still make it through from the injuries inflicted upon him. Why didn't you send Edward to Laboratory Five with another officer? Just for safety precautions." Riza asked.

"We were to send one officer down there for safety precautions. We never knew and there was no way of us knowing that we would need to send two of our officers down there. We thought that a normal person might get slaughtered, but an officer could protect himself in case of an attack. We only thought that there was one chimera. We did not know that there would be three chimeras. Do you know how the other two escaped without being noticed?"

"That is yet to be answered, but maybe if Edward, when and if, regains consciousness that we might be able to tie up some of the loose ends by interrogating him." Riza winced.

"You make that sound bad, Riza." Roy smirked, "I have no doubt that Edward will make it through this. I have a gut feeling about it."

"Just like you had a gut feeling that he would return back to headquarters?" Riza challenged, "Safe and sound?"

Roy opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. Hawkeye was right. He had been a fool to think that Edward was actually alright. Since when was he ever alright?

Hawkeye sighed, "We shouldn't be worrying about who was right and who was wrong right now. We can discuss about that after Edward is stable. We just need to make sure that he is alright and make sure that he is on his way to getting out of this hospital as soon as he can. You do know how much he hates hospitals. Don't you remember?"

"Clearly."

"Alright then. I'm going to see what Edward's stats are." Hawkeye said, "Oh, and do you know if anyone brought me a spare jacket?"

"It's right here." A voice behind her announced.

She turned around cautiously, and she was face to chest with General Armstrong. She took a good five steps back.

"Thank you," she said graciously, as he handed Riza her jacket. She slipped it on and threw her old jacket into a nearby trash bin, "Not going to need this old one, I presume." Hawkeye added.

She stepped away from the group, and turned around, continuing to walk the way to the secretary's desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Riza asked politely, "Could you please tell me where Edward Elric's room is?"

The secretary looked up from her paper work and said, "Yes, please follow me."

But Riza didn't follow her. Instead she said, "Well no, that is unnecessary, but thanks. It would do me much more use if you would kindly just tell me what his room number is." Hawkeye put on an act that she was impatient, so that the secretary would get the hint. She did not, though.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have protocols, you see."

Hawkeye did not want to resort to this method, but she seemed to have no choice. She moved her hand down towards her holster and grabbed her gun. She pointed it at the secretary's head, "Would you please tell me where Edward's room is?" She had no intention of actually shooting, but it was enough to make the secretary talk.

Oh, um yes." The secretary stammered. She pointed a shaky finger in one direction, "His room is up the stairs on the fourth floor. Room North 405."

"Thank you, ma'am." Riza smiled, and removed her gun from its location, to down on her holster, where it belonged. She turned around and was faced with a waiting room full of surprised civilians, and laughing officers. She smiled back at them.

She turned ninety degrees and walked down the hall.

* * *

Doctor Tyler Jones sat in his office as he heard footsteps outside of his office. Almost immediately following, the person outside knocked on his door. They opened the door following, and closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Tanya." Tyler greeted, "What can I help you with?"

"A patient has just arrived, Tyler," Tanya said calmly, "We found that he was attacked by three chimeras on a mission. He's a state alchemist, sir."

"Those are his records, I presume." Tyler motioned towards the folder grasped in her left hand.

"Yeah, they are. His name is Edward Elric, he's only sixteen, and from his records, he has been here multiple times."

Tanya handed the folder to Tyler and he looked onto the first page of the document. He chuckled softly to himself, "Ohh, so the Fullmetal Alchemist has finally arrived. Normally he is placed under another doctor with more experience than I have, but seeing as I'm the only doctor on duty tonight, I'll have a look at him, and then transfer his doctor tomorrow," Tyler mused, "This should be interesting."

Doctor Tyler started walking towards the stairs. Once there, he climbed up the four flights of stairs leading to the fourth floor. He caught glimpses of anxious nurses and nodded his head once to each and every nurse. Once up to the fourth floor, he walked towards the north wing of the hospital and checked the left side of the hallway which had the odd numbers on it.

_N401…_

_N403…_

_N405._

He opened the door softly but swiftly. Inside, he found a nurse, tending to the boy's wounds. Tyler immediately thought that there was some mistake in their files. The boy looked to be only thirteen, not sixteen, yet according to their files, he was sixteen, and the military files were never wrong. The nurse looked over to him, and gave him a small smile. He returned it, while walking towards her swiftly.

"Elizabeth, what are his stats?" Tyler asked hastily.

"He has right leg is broken, several of his ribs are cracked, and one is broken. He has cuts and bruises covering every inch of his body. Some of the cuts are deep enough that they will require stitching, and he seems to have a concussion, but it's mild. It should be gone in only a few days." Elizabeth answered.

Tyler lifted the covers off from Edward and lifted him up, so that his back was facing himself and Elizabeth. Across his back were three slash marks, all deep and dark red in their own unique and special way, except each one has its own intensity. The middle one seemed to be the deepest and worst of them all while the other two were about equally the same depth. Elizabeth had managed to stop the bleeding, but if Edward's heart pace sped up for any reason, they would start bleeding again and hard, so Tyler made it his first priority to stitch the slashes on his back.

As if on cue, two more nurses came through the door holding materials needed for stitching. Elizabeth must have gotten them to get the materials needed before Tyler had arrived. He nodded his thanks to the two nurses.

Tyler rolled a stool over to the side of the bed and had Elizabeth hold Edward while he stitched Edward's back. All of the while, Edward didn't make a sound and wasn't even conscious of anything. He seemed dead to Tyler, but his breathing and faint heartbeat told him otherwise. At long last, Tyler had finished stitching Edward's back. He rolled gauze and cloth around Edward's torso and laid him down gently on the bed. The two nurses had discreetly left, which was fine by Tyler. They were assigned to other patients and their work for Edward was done.

Tyler waited a few moments after both of the nurses left to begin to examine Edward's leg. It seemed to be the most damaged part on him if it wasn't his cracked ribs… which was yet to be determined which or both was worse. He had Elizabeth help lift Edward's leg without bending it. She had to keep his leg as still as possible.

His leg, by the look of it, looked as if a window had shattered and rained down onto his leg; slicing it where ever it could. These cuts, though, were not the deepest and, were quite frankly, the most shallow of them all, which for that, Edward should have been grateful for that. But the unconscious boy before him told Tyler that Edward was unaware of the cuts, bruises, sprains, and broken bones all around his body. From witnesses of past hospital visits, Tyler had heard that Edward was unruly stubborn and felt that he was more than capable of taking care of himself, which Tyler could agree that he was probably, but not in this state. Tyler hopped that Edward would be able to handle himself and that he would be able to live through all of the pain and torture his body was going through. But Tyler was sure that Edward would make it through. He wasn't running a fever or anything serious from his injuries and he seemed to be stable. All that was left was for Edward to heal himself up.

Tyler grabbed the gauze and cloth from the nearby table and started wrapping his leg, disinfecting the cuts on his leg, then he wrapped a hard plaster around his leg, to make sure that it stayed still and unmoving, but it wasn't that Edward wasn't going to be still and unmoving for a while.

The doctor moved up to the boy's chest where his rib cage was. Several ribs cracked; one broken. Enough that he may have trouble breathing, sure, but also enough that some may not heal correctly, for which moving on his own was hardly an option. Breathing alone was difficult for the boy, maybe even enough to move his ribs out of place, so he figured that they had to be extremely careful with him. Along his chest were slash marks from the chimeras, each of them pretty deep. He grabbed the materials that the two nurses had left behind and started to stitch the chimera slashes upon Edward's chest. All of the while, Edward didn't make a sound, which was good. Edward did not need to feel the pain that he was in at the moment.

He was unsure of when the boy would actually wake up, but he had a concussion. That seemed to be the natural way to keep a patient down, but if they needed to resort to the method, they could easily keep Edward down with a simple dose of cocaine.

Tyler moved on to wrapping the upper part of Edward's torso with the gauze and cloth. He did so gingerly, not wanting to make it too tight, to where it would hurt him even more and mess up his ribs, but tight enough to the point where it would be extremely difficult for Edward to try to get up if he had the urge… which there was a positive chance that he would try to escape the likes of his bed. Also for the reason to keep it still and allow it to heal, but the likeliness of Edward trying to escape was more probable.

Tyler was done with Edward for the night; he would check his stats in the morning, and there was nothing more that he could do for the boy for the while. He fixed a hospital gown around Edward to show some decency for the man, and because of protocols, and placed him gently back onto the bed. All of the while, he never said anything to Elizabeth, only nodded to her signaling that her work was done, and that she could go back to her patients. Tyler also had patients to attend to, but most were sleeping, so there was really no point in doing so until he had to give them their nightly dose.

Tyler headed for the door and opened it slightly, and he saw a blonde female sitting in a chair across the hallway. She immediately stood up, and headed over to him, a small smile featuring on her face. She walked swiftly towards him, and then extended her arms and hand out to meet his.

"I'm Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. I've come to find out of Edward's stats."

"Pleasant to meet you," Tyler answered, shaking her hand sharply, "May I escort you to my office?"

"Please."

Tyler motioned Riza to follow him, and they headed towards the center of the hospital. Tyler noticed that a couple of nurses were just ahead of them, probably all finished with their work and to head home for the night. He would soon be able to do the same for the night. He headed down the stairs and went down the four flights that led to the main floor. Once settled on ground, he took a swift left and headed down the hallway towards his office.

Once outside, he opened the door swiftly, holding it open for Hawkeye. She had a look in her eye as if she might slap him, but gave no attention, but she only walked in as politely as she could, but briskly and hastily. Tyler strode behind his desk and sat down casually, while Riza took lodge at the seat across from his desk.

Tyler immediately noticed Edward's file still on his desk. He must have been slow enough not to hand it back to the nurse to place back into its file, but found that it served a dominant purpose for the time. It would help answer most of his questions, unless he asked the lieutenant, as he answered hers.

"So how is Edward doing?" Riza broke the silence, a string of impatience in her voice. Tyler immediately liked the lieutenant.

Tyler sighed and looked up to the madam. He hated telling family and friends of their loved one's fatality, for how they may react, he didn't care for, "Before I tell you, I noticed while examining his injuries that he does have two automail limbs. Do you know how he obtained them?"

"I don't know the complete and full most detailed explanation," Hawkeye started, "but I do know that he lost them from a human transmutation, a taboo. He gained his state alchemy name from those two pieces of automail, but I do also believe that he gained the name from being a stubborn and unruly child. As being accepted into the state military as only a child, we noticed that mostly whenever he didn't get his way, he would turn in his watch and just walk away. As he grew older, he stayed in the military for longer periods of time. Now, he's working on his third year."

"Thank You ma'am," Tyler said, "Do you still care to know of Edward's stats?"

"Absolutely."

Tyler sighed before beginning, "He has one broken leg, which is clearly not his automail leg," Tyler tried to humor, but got the same grim expression from the lieutenant, "Many of his ribs are cracked, and one is broken. He has bruises in various parts on his body, but are the minority of his injuries, and should go away in a few days. He has shallow, minor cuts around his body that should be able to heal on their own. He has a minor concussion that may keep him out for a few days and-"

Hawkeye cut him off, laughing bitterly, "A simple concussion cannot keep Edward out. He is strong. He's gone through a lot more than most people his age, or even regardless of the age has gone through."

"I understand, Riza, but he isn't supernatural. I, for one, may not be correct and he may wake up in a few hours, but I'm only basing this off of how most people his age react to a minor concussion. I hope you too understand."

"I do,"

"It's been a long day for you. Why don't you get home and get some rest, and then come by tomorrow to see Edward again. Tomorrow will be better, and you have had a long day," Tyler reassured her.

"Yes, I should get going. I can't stay here the entire time. I have to get back to work."

"Yes, ma'am. Goodnight." Tyler bid her farewell.

"Goodnight."

* * *

Realization has stroked you as you read this chapter thinking that you may have read it. Half of that is true, which being because, and I hope that you noticed it, that I re-wrote the chapter. Now, most medical errors have been fixed, as I thank Orange Singer for, his or her, kindness and cooperation as, he or she, knows about medical procedures as I do not. So I thank you once again. Chapter three will be out Tuesday or Wednesday when I fix, lengthen, and add on, subtract, and revise to chapter three. I do beg that you bear with me until I finish and sort through everything. So the usual: Review, Reply, and constructive criticism reviews that you write are oddly acceptable. Please tell me what I can fix.

…Although, very nice reviews that you all love to write are acceptable too.

With love,

liveyourlifexx


	3. Chapter 3

Equivalency

By: liveyourlifexx

* * *

"…_in order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost…"_

"…_but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…" _

* * *

Chapter Three:

In the mean time, Edward drifted.

Throughout his mind, he saw many mental images, most of which he had strived for, successful or not, and things that he was striving for. He first saw his house, the shed, Winry's house and or Rockbell Automail. He saw himself and Al, trying to do a successful human transmutation in the shed, all entirely humble, but being unsuccessful, striving for their mother.

He saw his brother in the armor, and looking into a mirror, his former self staring back at him, the memory of his brother stored in the back of his mind for references. He was striving to make his brother human again, so that each side of the mirror showed the same person.

The next image was blurry and changed rapidly. It was supposed to describe what a Philosopher's Stone was, but there were many images for it. There was what looked to be a ruby mounted on a ring, and then it switched to a bottle of red water, followed by a river of thick, muggy red lava, followed by a glowing stone about the side of Edward's head, on the ground in front of him.

The next image that Edward saw was he, and at first, he couldn't tell why it was so important and why he would be striving for himself, but then the picture changed, and it changed to a more disturbing picture. It showed Edward, lying on the ground, blood covering his hands and the rest of his body, and his eyes were closed. Worse, his skin was gray, and he registered no breathing. The image Edward saw was he, himself, dead. He was not sure why he would be dead, or if there would be any cause for it. He wondered why he would be striving for himself to be dead.

As if his conscious was able to answer his questions, the mental image changed completely into something new and different. It showed a memory, but one played out in live action. He saw himself, with hair flapping in the breeze walking into Laboratory Five. Things were played out fast and simple as if it was coming from someone who didn't get the entire story. As Edward walked in, he was almost immediately jumped by one chimera, with two more coming from down the dark hallway. They slashed and trashed and banged Edward around, until his body was limp, and then they continued some more. It wasn't until Edward's conscious registered a gunshot that they stopped hurting him, and at that, without any reference to who the person with the gun was, the dream ended.

His conscious went back to the mental images that it liked to give Edward and gave him a picture of The Gate. At first, Edward was scared, afraid that The Gate had come for him, but let go as an unidentified character was being pulled towards the gate. The person struggled, but The Gate was going to have its way. At the very last moment, the very last second, Edward caught a glimpse of the character's features and saw his own face.

The image changed rapidly, showing the chimera fight again, and Edward started to loathe his conscious for showing him these images over and over again, and no sooner than it first appeared, and it was replaced by another mental picture of him scooped up in Hawkeye's arms, an unreadable expression across her features. He saw himself, and winced. He was bloody, torn, and his leg was bent in the worst way ever. He was bloody and looked not to be breathing. His skin was pale, and his eyes were closed. His hair was tangled behind his head, loosely in its braid. The image changed again, and quickly, to himself with the gray skin and the blood, blood and more blood everywhere. Edward could tell what his conscious was trying to tell him, but he wished it would tell him in a less violent manner. It changed another time, of him being pulled into the gate, and he felt his head throb while pain scorched throughout it. His mind didn't like being taken away.

Edward could make an assumption out of this: He was going to die from being attacked by a chimera.

But his conscious was not through with him just yet. It showed another picture of him winning against the chimera's, and stopped abruptly before he started to lose.

Edward could make another assumption out of this: He had to fight loosing to the darkness and to the gate.

His conscious gave him a mental praise for figuring it out, and gave Edward another mental picture, one for which he would have never guessed. He saw the chimera's, each looking into a mirror like Al had, but on the other side, were three different people, or should he say sins.

The last two had in the reflections Lust and Wrath. In the first mirror, it showed the oldest sin of all: Envy.

He wasn't sure how his conscious could be so sure of it, but for all Edward knew, he was getting telepathic images from some supernatural being who knew everything and every time and everything of every world. For what Edward could tell, he had one smart conscious.

So he assumed from the information given him that the chimeras were really homunculi in disguise.

Everything that had happened to himself made perfect sense now…

* * *

Riza stopped by the office the next morning. She wasn't going to spend all of her time at the hospital, and knew that Edward would not be waking up any time soon anyways. She actually found that things went very slow around the office. Many officers used the older Elric's accident as an excuse to take the day off. She would shoot them if they didn't come back the following day.

Riza made it to her office but walked right past it. She headed towards Roy Mustang's office, not far from hers, and rapped loudly on the door. She waited for an answer, but no sound came, but by waiting an extra two seconds, the door opened, and Roy Mustang stood inside, his uniform much more crisp than usual. Instead of telling her to enter, he had gotten up and went to open the door himself.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye," Mustang started, "I trust you had a good sleep?"

"Not in the least." Hawkeye said casually, "I've come here to know if there is anything I can do for the Edward Accident." She said it as if it were something of great cause, world changing history.

Roy chuckled to himself darkly, "Actually, as a matter of fact, I do." He stepped back to let her in, so they could discuss privately. He strode over to his chair and sat down, Hawkeye remaining standing, "I would like for you to try to talk to Edward. Interrogate him if he is aware enough to give fluent answers. If he is unable, then just talk about random things; keep him company. Until he awakes, just keep him company, that's the only job I'm giving you. The press will hear of nothing about this, certain individuals have made sure of it."

"Is that all you wish for me to do?" Hawkeye sounded offended, "No paperwork? Nothing else?"

"There is nothing else that is needed to be done, lieutenant," Roy sounded annoyed, "I was actually prepared to let you have the day off, so I made others do the work intended for you."

"Colonel, please note that from a simple accident from a dear work associate that I wouldn't take a day off from work because I witnessed it. Rest assured I know that my place is here."

"I will rest assured that my best lieutenant does what work has been assigned to her. Please, I would prefer you down at the military hospital keeping Edward company, Riza."

Riza sighed, "Yes, sir," Riza saluted, and then turned one hundred and eighty degrees, towards the door behind her.

* * *

Hawkeye walked into the military hospital and was welcomed in by the smell of sterilization and cleanness. She noticed that things seemed to have turned back to normal. Normal people waiting in the waiting room, normal people walking down the hallways, and normal injuries from normal accidents. Riza's story was entirely not normal.

She looked over to the trash bin where she had disposed of her bloody jacket to find that there was nothing there. Nothing. Every article had been removed. She was fairly certain that if someone put a tissue into the trash bin that a custodian would come and empty it, making it empty once more.

Hawkeye walked down the hallway leading towards the stairs and started to climb the four flights of stairs. Once up, she made her way towards the west wing where she made her way towards room N405.

_N401…_

_N403…_

_N405._

She looked in through the side window to see that the room was empty except for a sleeping Edward, and he didn't look any better than he did yesterday. She truly hoped that she would be able to communicate with him, but by the looks out of it, she would have to be extremely lucky if she wants to report to the colonel that Edward moaned in response to one of her statements. She decided to keep the first statements simple, and see if she could get any comprehendible words out of him.

She opened the door slowly, and shut it softly behind her, as if the smallest noise might wake Edward up. She grabbed a chair from the side of the room and placed it next to his bed holding his sleeping form, as she knew it was going to be a while before he said anything, or any signs of hearing her for that matter.

She tapped on his shoulder, "Hey, Edward."

She was greeted back with no answer. No movement. No twitches or any sign of life.

She tried again, "How are you doing?" Riza felt this job was a little too friendly for herself; a little too easy.

Riza heard the faintest sigh come from Edward. Instead of a shallow breath, he took a whole, and let it all out. Riza was sure that he knew it was her, or _somebody in the matter. _He knew he was being talked to.

"Well… it's good to know that you're alive." Hawkeye thought about what she said for a second, and then slapped herself mentally. That was a bit too hard core for the moment, but Riza saw the edges of Edward's mouth go up in some sort of amused grin, perhaps.

"…Mom?" Riza heard Edward croak out. Edward didn't seem to know his surroundings.

"I don't think you'd like me as your mother, Edward." Riza joked, mostly to herself.

The corners of Edward's mouth went down, "Winry…?"

"Not even close, Edward." Riza said a bit too much sternness in her voice, "It's me, Hawkeye."

Riza didn't get an answer, but thought she saw his eyelids flutter. They didn't open at first, but then they fluttered a bit more and then the opened, slits at first, and then open. The golden eyes behind the curtains were now shown upon the stage, but they were glassy; as if they didn't know their part or what their lines were. His head slowly turned forty five degrees to his right side until they locked with Riza, the golden eyes still uncomprehending, still unsure, but Riza saw his eyes focus bit by bit, yet they didn't entirely focus as much as she had seen them be. Edward sighed once again.

"Hello Hawkeye," he said, not fluently, but most definitely an improvement.

"Hey, Ed. How are you feeling?" Riza asked.

Edward was silent for a moment, his eyes defocusing, "Thank you, Riza."

Riza smiled, "Your welcome, Ed."

Edward sighed; his head leaning back on the pillow, "The chimeras… weren't…" his eyes were closing.

"What about the chimeras?" Riza asked.

Edward's eyes were closed entirely, "They were…" He gave one more unsteady breath before saying, "_Homunculi…" _and passing out.

* * *

Havoc drove up to the Central Library in silence as he tried to figure out what he was going to say to the younger Elric brother. Sure, the kid was entirely metal and bullets could bounce off of his armor and not damage him in any way, shape or form, but the child worried about his brother, and although in the last four years, his voice hadn't changed nor his maturity, he still gained knowledge and grew more and more mature mentally. There were some scholars who would die to have what people have said as 'eternal life' for Al's like and cause, which was why it seemed reasonable to check for him at the military library, stocking up on as much information as he could, for as long as he was stuck with eternal life, he may as well store as much information as he can for the time being.

He turned the keys slowly, and the car's engine died down. He looked towards the giant library and sighed. It was going to be near impossible to find him, yet he could ask if anyone had seen him. Seeing a huge hunk of metal walking around was certainly a sight for something to gossip about.

He opened his car door swiftly and closed it gently behind him. He took his cigarette out of his mouth and dropped it onto the ground, and then he smashed it against the pavement with the heel of his boot. From past experiences, the librarians at the library didn't prefer it when people came in with lit cigarettes. They said that they found it rude and made it hard for people to breathe. He didn't want to get in trouble again, and it would only be for fifteen or twenty minutes. He was sure that he could last that long without one.

He walked around his car and up the stairs leading up to the giant library. He took each and every step hastily, as if he wanted to get this done and over with, which was partly true. He wasn't sure how he would be able to withstand Al's worrying and hurrying.

He reached the top of the stairs and opened the doors slowly and carefully, as if not to make a sound. Inside, there were no sounds, and he felt out of place and out of his mind as his boots made loud noises along the marble floor. He strode up to the front desk, where a librarian was sitting quietly reading a book. Havoc wondered for a second if that's all people ever did in a library.

He tapped on the desk quietly and asked, "Excuse me, ma'am? Have you seen a man in a suit of armor here at all?" He decided to leave out the part with only a soul in the armor. He didn't want to scare the librarian, although she probably already knew who Al was, but didn't want to overwhelm her that he was in _her _library.

The librarian looked up from her book and gave Havoc a cold look.

She remembered him.

"He went down the left wing, towards the alchemy section, I'd presume." She snapped. She didn't seem to like that he thought that she didn't know who Al was. Of course she knew. Almost everyone in Central knew about the Elric brothers.

"Ah, right. Thank you." Havoc smiled politely. The librarian gave him a nasty look and then turned back to her book.

He hastily walked down the hallway towards the west wing of the library. He didn't realize that he could be dumb enough to think that Al just didn't go straight to the alchemy section. That's all he and his brother studied and worshiped about.

No sooner than Havoc had started walking down the west wing that he saw the doors that led to the alchemy section, and through the windows of the doors, he saw Al. He sighed quickly, and then sucked in one big breath as he stepped inside the room.

Al didn't acknowledge Havoc's presence at fist, with his face stuck in a book, but realized that the person at the corner of his vision was striding towards him. He looked up from his book expecting to be looking back down again, but realized that it was Havoc and stood up from the chair.

"Lieutenant Havoc, sir," Al said, "What are you doing here?"

Havoc took another deep breath before continuing, "Sit down, Al."

Al waited a second before sitting down in the chair opposing to Havoc's. He could tell that something was wrong. He could always tell when something was messing with Edward's mind, and he had always tried to help console him, but sometimes Edward just would not open up to even his own brother.

Havoc decided to get right to the point, no need to prepare Al for the news; nothing could prepare him, "Your brother has been caught in a chimera accident."

"What?" Al asked, unsure of what he just heard.

"During a mission to capture a chimera, he was overthrown by three. He's in the hospital right now; recovering."

"This is unbelievable!" Al said, on the edge of hysterics and screaming, "Can I see him?"

"Visiting hours' are over, son," Havoc said, his voice barely above a whisper, "It's ten thirty."

Al's head turned rapidly towards the Roman numeral clock hanging on the wall behind his head, "I didn't know it was so late."

"I can offer you a ride back to your room at headquarters and then you can see Edward first thing in the morning, but it is late. Too late to see him right now."

"I understand." Al replied, "But I do have one question."

"Name it."

"How bad was the chimera attack?"

* * *

_Homunculi… _the word sprang around in her head as she walked down the hallway down towards the stairwell that led down to the first floor. She had always known how they were created: by the very human transmutation that even Edward had tried, so it seemed as if he felt that they were all after him, because he was after them as well. As soon as Edward had told Hawkeye of his hypothesis, and she wasn't even sure that he was aware enough to know what the hell he was talking about. He had given out a short cry, muffled by his delirium, and then immediately passed out. After that, Hawkeye didn't see reason in staying with him. She was, after all, only there to interrogate.

Riza had never seen homunculi, but believed in them as much as she believed that Edward was going to make it through. She had known that they were stronger than even General Armstrong, but she had never known that they could shape shift into other beings or things. She never knew what Edward had gone through and through with homunculi and everything that he had done to them and everything that they had done to him, but she had seen him whenever he had come back. Torn and broken; physically and mentally. This case was no different.

Hawkeye found herself back in the waiting room and thought of her time with Edward being no time at all, but, when Riza looked over to the Roman numeral clock hanging on the wall, she saw that it was twelve sixteen. She had been there for two hours talking about almost nothing with Edward. Quite not like Riza.

As she walked out the door, she found herself looking at her shiny black car. It turned out that her chauffeur had actually waited for her for two hours. She suddenly felt the guilt plummet into her stomach and she ran over to her car. She knocked on the car door, finding that it was locked and looked inside. She found her chauffeur, sleeping with his head lolled back against the seat rest. Hawkeye considered shooting at the window to get his attention, but that would only be a waste of bullets. Instead, she rapped as loud as she could against the glass, and she finally got her driver's attention. She woke with a jerk, his hands flying every direction and onto the steering wheel. Realizing that he hadn't fallen asleep while driving, he looked to where he heard the noise and saw Riza standing outside with a sly grin on her face. He immediately reached over to unlock her door and on the click, she opened the door.

During the car ride, Riza had to mentally slap herself from going into hysterics. Somehow, she was worried about the Homunculi, but she shouldn't be. They would only be after Edward, and he was in safe hands. She shouldn't have taken two hours to find about something inevitable.

At least her driver didn't waste his time.

* * *

As I wait for my internet to come back up, I am here, eating cooking chocolate and typing as much to my heart's consent. Even though I have a history test worth two hundred points tomorrow and the following day, a comparison between Elizabeth I, and Sarah Palin (Obama will _not_ taste victory!) which is three to five pages long, (even though it is double spaced, three comparisons each, and ½ a page per comparison at least; so easy)

Your chapter is my first priority. I realize that these are re-runs, chapters which you already have the main idea for, but I have fixed them, and they are better than ever and if there are minority flaws, then tell me and I shall fix them. Chapter one seems to be loved by all, now: do you love chapters two and three? I don't like chapter three... I might change it later... your choice.

This chapter seems very RizaxEdward very much, but it's not. I guarentee it. It is shipless, which rolls with every crowd except for the sea dogs. XD

So the usual: Review, reply, and criticism is oddly acceptable. Please tell me what I can fix…

With love,

Liveyourlifexx

P.S. I cannot guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Please, bear with me until I get my head straight. Crying hysterically for no apparent reason can get your mind off of writing.


	4. Chapter 4

Equivalency

By: liveyourlifexx

* * *

"…_in order to obtain, something of equal value most be lost…"_

"…_but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…"_

* * *

Chapter Four:

"I don't know."

Alphonse stomped his foot, the echo bouncing out throughout the entire wing of the library, "That's not good enough."

They were both standing up at this point. Havoc took an instinctive step back, as if Al was going to pounce any second. But Al didn't. Instead, he slumped back into the chair; the armor defeated, and put his metal head in between his metal arms and legs. It seemed that mentally, the suit of armor was penetrated. Havoc felt extremely terrible for the boy, since he and Edward had both been together in Central for four years, lived through the survival zones, and had each other's backs, but now, no one really had Edward's back. He was vulnerable and hurt. So easily could his injuries make a turnabout and back fire against himself, perhaps causing in more injuries, or worse than so, death. But Havoc was not about to tell _that _to Al. If anything, he wanted to be able to reassure the kid that his brother was going to be alright, he _really _wanted to say that, but at the moment, it was hard to decipher the possibilities for the older Elric brother.

Havoc didn't say anything else. Instead, he rested a hand on the armor's shoulder and patted it, knowing full well that Al couldn't feel the comfort he was trying to give, but he acted as he did by sighing and getting up onto his feet.

"I'd like to see him," Al stated, "today."

"It's far too late to, son. It's ten thirty five." Havoc said, pointing to the clock.

"I don't care," Al said, anger and sadness obvious in his tone and voice, "I have to see him. I cannot wait another minute without."

Havoc sighed, "I want for you to see him more than any other military personal that wishes to interrogate him or whatever they want to do. You deserve to see him, and I believe that Edward needs to see you, but at the Military Hospital, they have strict protocols, and they normally don't bend the rules for anyone. The last time they bended the rules that I am concerned of was when a mother went through the old hospital in 1896 while it was burning down to fetch her ill son, but neither one made it out alive."

"I don't know what Edward's thinking right now, but I can tell that he needs me." Al confessed. Deep inside though, he thought that maybe it was himself that needed to see Edward; to have the reassurance of Edward's stability. He couldn't stand to be away from his brother in the time of crisis, but he did as the lieutenant told him and nodded, "I'll wait until tomorrow to see Edward, Havoc."

"I can tell how hard it is for you to try and tell yourself that everything is going to be alright, and I have had my doubts in the past," Havoc started, "but for me, everything has held together peacefully, and the world had never gone to an end from what had happened," Havoc saw Al's head go down, and immediately regretted what he said, "In the end though, I'm sure that everything will be fine."

"We'll just see what equivalent exchange has to say about it." Al muttered.

Al rose up from his seat, not even bothering to attempt to mute his steps down from his armor with each step that he took. He walked out of the Alchemy section of the Library and headed down the hall with long strides, Havoc having to jog to keep up.

"Would you still like a ride back to headquarters Al?" Havoc asked, as he continued to jog behind Al.

Al sighed, slowing his stride, "I'll just walk back to our dorm, if I may do so kindly,"

There was a pain behind his voice that Havoc didn't recognize. It was like a part of Al had been taken away, smashed, beaten, then in a lousy attempt, brought back in its rigid form with a red bow on top. Like Edward was the smashed, beaten part of Al, and that the military was trying to return him to Al just as he was, not the way that Al had left him. Al wanted to find Edward just as he was when he left him to go on the "simple" mission. Like an Alchemy book checked out of the library. The librarians wanted their books to be in as great of condition as they were before the persons checked them out. Al didn't want Edward's binding to be broken.

Alphonse's stride picked up rapidly, to where Havoc would have to go onto a full on sprint in order to keep up with him, but he didn't follow nor try to keep up. He kept at his normal pace, walking through the hallway leading towards the door, Al already lost in eye range. He quickly took out a cigarette and a box of matches, and quickly lit it, quickly breathing out his nerves. He licked on the end of the match to have it fully extinguished, and then he threw the match onto the ground, putting the cigarettes and matches back into his pocket. He didn't head for the main door for fear of another lecture from the librarian, but exited out the side door of the wing, leading out into the gardens. The librarians didn't like you smoking out there either, but no one had surveillance upon it, and nobody truly cared upon the people who were reading out there, which was hardly any.

Havoc hardly stopped to sniff the roses, the smell covered up by his smoke all the while, and headed towards the garden gate, seeing beyond it Al, lit in the moonlight, running at a stride, in the opposing direction of headquarters. Havoc sighed. Al had decided after all to try and see his brother. Deep inside, Havoc wished him most of luck with the personnel, but deep inside, Havoc hoped that the hospital _wasn't_ on fire.

* * *

There were times when Al was grateful that he was made of armor, like the many times that people had tried to shoot him, and failed, and the times when he had been tripped by the ground or others, and was unharmed, but then all of the other times, like when running, and the crazy looks that he got, and pretty much any other emotion that he had lost from the transmutation that he wished he could be flesh. To sum it up, this was one of those times.

As Alphonse ran down the sidewalk in the moonlight, he found that his armor made so much noise despite how little noise he was trying to make. He felt as if he was waking up the entire city with his commotions. The transmutation didn't get rid of the emotions of sadness and anxiety, though, and this was one of those times when he wished it had been. He wished he could have easily listened to what Havoc said and just to go back to his and Ed's dorm for the night, but only to lay there in, another, sleepless night thinking about how or how not he was going to be alright. If anything, Al wanted to wait in the waiting room of the hospital until they would permit him to see Edward. Seemingly on Al's mind, he did not want to be out of a half mile radius of his brother. He wanted to be nearby, to be able to know immediately if something was wrong, and be one of the first to help, if he had the talents to do so.

If Al were to see his brother, he wanted to be able to touch his arm and be able to feel his presence there. For four years, he had lost the ability to know what touch, taste, and even how to breathe. Even if Al were to be put back into a human, would he be able to breathe entirely? Or would he indeed suffocate from the lack of experience?

Al saw the hospital in sight, and then sighed a breathless sigh to himself. He was in that half a mile radius of his brother, and he could tell that it would not be long until he could see his brother. He started to run into a sprint towards the doors, and once he got into eyesight of whoever was beyond the door, he slowed to a normal human walking pace, but knew that whoever was beyond the door would treat him not as a normal human, but perhaps in great wonder, enough to halt him from seeing his brother even during visiting hours. He truly hoped that they would permit him to his brother, yet, if his brother's injuries were truly as bad as he heard, he might be in critical condition, with a big sign that said _No Visitors. _

Al was not sure what to expect, but only urged him even more to stride on it, acting casual as if he were flesh and bone, though maybe he was trying too hard. The secretary at the front desk looked up and gave him one of the strangest expressions he had ever gotten from someone, but as quickly as she snapped a look at him, she smiled, suddenly, and returned back to her work.

Al sure didn't expect that, but he was freely able to accept the kindness he had gotten and hastily walked up to the front desk. He kept it short and to the point, "Excuse me, ma'am? Could you please tell me where Edward Elric's room is? I realize that it's after visiting hours but I'll only be seeing him for a second and-"

"That's quite alright, dear." The secretary interrupted him, "Do you have any relations with this young boy?"

"He's actually my brother," Al stated, matter-of-factly.

"Ah, so he's your younger brother." The secretary assumed.

"He's actually my older brother ma'am."

"Ah, alright, that's quite alright. I do believe that I can allow you to see him for five minutes, since he is your brother." The secretary smiled. Alphonse took into note that she looked a great amount like his mother, but didn't take too much account into it. Al noticed after his mother's death that many women looked like his mother.

Al also took into account that they didn't seem to be enforcing their protocols very well. Havoc had told him that they enforced their rules and normally didn't make exceptions, but as Havoc said, maybe he would be the star that night, yet still. He had a feeling that perhaps the woman was new to her job here at this hospital. Perhaps at her old job, they didn't enforce the rules quite as much.

Rather than argue with her over something that would not be in his favor, he eagerly followed her down the hallway that she had already started to walk down. He wanted to see his brother, and he thanked the heavens above that he was allowed such a privilege. He followed her up the four sets of stairs that had been abused that entire day with how many times people were going up and down them, and followed her down the wing that apparently led to Ed's room. She left him outside of the room, which held Ed inside, to face by himself all that Edward had gotten himself into this time.

* * *

Where the lush green grass and the residents were always smiling, Risembool stood, making other villages envy at its appearance. But being far away from civilization, or any major cities, it truly made Maes Hughes wonder thoughtfully at the persuasion of the Elric brothers being driven over to Central, where there was no love and no feelings. He thought slightly of his own family, thinking that his own house was the core of where all of the love was, which he tried so deeply to spread around.

Hughes thought about the task that he was about to perform. He was going to receive the task of informing the younger Elric brother, since Alphonse was almost like a son to himself, but as soon as General Armstrong found out about Havoc arriving in Risembool from his stay there from what was only a month ago, he immediately reassigned him, saying that, "his cigarettes for which you smoke off will destroy the divine ecosystem for which they have worked so hard to achieve."

Havoc didn't argue, for he was somewhat glad that he didn't have to travel one hundred miles to inform a Ms. Pinako Rockbell and a Miss. Winry Rockbell. Hughes, on the other hand, wasn't sure that Havoc would know how to console the soul inside the boy's armor once he found out the news, but he agreed with the decision, figuring that the grass and flowers didn't need to be retained from their beauty. He soon figured out from Armstrong that the Miss had a temper, and would flip out if she found out of Edward's condition, so he assumed that he had been given the more difficult task to perform. By all means, this was true.

By following Armstrong's directions, he soon stumbled upon the small village of Risembool, which by the looks of it, was about the size of a single building in Central. Following the more specific directions, he found his way to the path that led to the Rockbell's house. As traditionally done with deaths of wars, two men in uniform would come to the man's family's house to deliver the news in an envelope. From past records, this house had already received two letters and two men. He did not mean to show the impression of delivering the worst of news, he only hoped that the reason that he was here was the last things on their minds. He wasn't sure how he was going to deliver the news.

As he stood outside of the house, by the mailbox which confirmed the address the general had given him was correct, he suddenly heard an anguished scream coming from inside of the Rockbell's house. Standing there for a moment, he soon realized the source of the scream. A metal object was thrown out of the side window and it landed hard on the soft, lush grass. Looking forward and squinting, he found the culprit.

It was a single wrench.

After the discovery was made, he heard a young female's voice shriek out, "Why can't I put this back together?!"

Hughes couldn't help but smile at recognizing the tone of her voice. He had heard it a couple times in Central when Edward was at his most happiest. Seeing his childhood and hometown friends had really brought his spirits up those few times Winry had visited the two boys at Central. Although she was a pain in the neck at times with everything that she wanted Edward to buy for her, she was still a sweet young girl, but now, comparing the voice from his subconscious and the one he had heard just recently, he was able to decipher that the young girl had turned into a young lady in the time that the Elric brothers had been gone. Although the voice was less child-like, more mature, it still had the same ring to it.

Removing his hand from the mailbox, he started to walk slowly up the pathway towards the Rockbell's house, regretting each and every step, wishing that he could hop the next train for Central, and everything would go back to normal, but that was not the case. There was Edward, hurt and perhaps dying in the hospital, and the two here deserved to know. He couldn't easily say what Havoc might have said of, "Edward's in the hospital, and perhaps dying. You should probably come by central to say your last words to him." He knew it wouldn't be that easy, and that was about the most hurtful thing you could possibly say to someone.

Sooner than later, he reached the front door of the house. He sighed once more, knowing that all would be hell after he knocked on the door, and moved his arm and hand up to the door and rapped on it steadily four times.

He wasn't going to bring out this news like to crash them with a car. He was going to try to bring them gently down as softly and kindly as he could, there were already more hearts broken for the one. These two were going to be the hardest to console. Maybe if he brought out pictures of Elysia…

No sooner than he had knocked of a time span of two seconds that the door had opened to find that nobody was there. He slowly looked down to the old madam that was looking up at him, a scowl evident in her features. Hughes wondered for a moment if Armstrong had seen this madam at first or not. He sometimes had trouble seeing Edward if he should be looking for him, but tried not to piss off the sixteen year old _that _much.

"May I help you?" the woman asked in a monotone voice. It seemed that Hughes's uniform did nothing to enlighten an emotion. Hughes sighed.

"I'm Maes Hughes; Lieutenant Colonel down in Central. I'm a personal friend of Edward." Hughes started off casually.

"Oh, don't tell me that Edward's gotten into more trouble, has he?" the madam smirked, "I'm Pinako Rockbell."

"May I come in?" Hughes asked politely, gaining a head nod from Pinako and walked in, closing the door behind him.

Pinako was already in a seat at the kitchen table, "You said you have news about Edward?" she said quite loudly, and Hughes heard a very loud bang coming from the upstairs. Immediately following, footsteps were falling down the stairs in an attempt to race against themselves; to see which one got downstairs first. Hughes recognized the young lady immediately as she rounded about the corner. Her blue eyes gave her away. They were about as intense as some give Edward's for. Her black slacks gave her away as a tom boy, and he was only able to decipher that she was a girl was from her bust, covered in black apparel. He nodded once at her ridiculous and unfeminine apparel. Hawkeye was more feminine then this belle was, but he did not comment her clothing out loud, but if she were to come to Central, he hoped that she would have at least some decency to put on a shirt that covered her entire torso.

"What about Edward?" The blonde girl asked, seemingly out of breath.

"Mind your manners." Pinako scolded, "This is my granddaughter, Winry."

"We met about a couple years ago on one of her trips to Central." Maes said, not bringing up about how she grew up just as fast as Elysia had, "And yes, I do have news informing Edward."

"By the tone of your voice, I'd say that it's not good." Pinako was one to go right out and say it.

"It's not good, not in the least," Maes said with regret, and then continued, "Edward was sent on a mission to capture a chimera. By records, this chimera was supposedly willing, that it wasn't willing to live any longer, and would go back in peace. Unfortunately, the chimera had gotten loose in Laboratory Five, freeing his friends. By the time that Edward arrived, prepared to capture one chimera, he had freed his two other companions. Edward was out numbered and immediately out matched. If Hawkeye hadn't found him when she did, Edward would have died. He's in the hospital now, recovering."

During his short speech, he noticed the face expressions. Winry's expression turned to one of curiosity, to an anxious foreshadow, to finally an unexpected anger and steam. Pinako, on the other hand, her face expressions stayed nonchalant throughout the entire speech. She either didn't care, or she didn't prefer to show her emotions, but Hughes knew that she cared. He couldn't easily see why not.

"Is he okay…?" Winry finally whispered, the anger finally gone, and worry was replaced.

"We're not sure, Miss. I was sent here on the dime as soon as the news was sent to headquarters to inform you. Since you are so far away from headquarters, I didn't get enough time to stick around to be informed of Edward's stats. The colonel sent me here so you two would be informed as soon as possible." Hughes said, "Once I head back to Central, the first thing I have to do is find out more about what happened at Laboratory Five, which includes interrogating Edward, no matter how bad it sounds, but it is necessary, and looking for clues back at Laboratory Five, but the clues will probably come before the interrogating. From all that I've heard, Edward won't be up for a while." Maes winced at the last installment he inserted.

"Does his automail need mending or replaced?" Pinako asked, her expression not changing in the least.

"Absolutely." Winry muttered under her breath. She caught attentions, "I made his automail eighty percent lighter, and so it's more breakable. With a chimera accident, he was probably pushed around a lot more than that automail wants to," her eyes narrowed, "Reckless little bastard." She muttered under her breath again.

"When he comes back around, it will probably comfort him more that he is surrounded by loved ones." Hughes added, "I would be more than happy to escort you back to Central with me."

"How could you even think about saying no?!" Winry asked Pinako.

"I didn't even answer the young man!" Pinako snapped back, making Hughes blush, "And we're the only ones who know how to make Edward's automail just the way he likes it," Pinako smiled, "We should probably head back with you then."

Hughes nodded, "I'll leave you two alone for a bit. I'll be leaving in half an hour. If you need more time though, just tell me."

"Half an hour is plenty time, thank you." Pinako replied, already up and headed towards her automail supplies, "Winry, I need you to get extensions for Edward's automail, in case he grew and we have to completely replace it, or if he didn't grow, grab supplies for new automail, if it's broken down to the point of uselessness."

Hughes had the door propped open, and was about to go outside when he saw a tear-streaked Winry, down to the point of breaking down.

Hughes walked over to her and gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder, "You know what Edward's a trooper. He can make it through this easily."

"I truly hope you're right." Winry replied, whipping the tears from her eyes, "He doesn't know what all of these accidents do to me."

"Don't worry. He'll get better by the day." Hughes reassured.

But deep down inside, he wasn't in the least sure.

* * *

Hello to my very few viewers of this overworked piece of writing.  
Once again, a new chapter has been uploaded, and I am here to talk to you.  
Al won't react to Edward's condition until next chapter, but what will happen then…

Ohh spoilers!

Will Winry knock open his skull with a wrench next chapter…?  
Not until chapter six or seven. This is slow moving angst!

What about that Homunculi cliffhanger I gave you in chapter two?  
…Or was it three…?  
Not until next chapter.

What about that crazy nurse who ignored protocols and let Al see Ed?  
What does _that _have to do with anything?

So remember: **Read, Review, and constructive criticism is oddly acceptable. ****Tell me what I can fix…**

With love,

Liveyourlifexx

P.S. Remember when I talked to you last chapter about every few days updating? Well, that's still in effect.


	5. Chapter 5

Equivalency

By: liveyourlifexx

* * *

"…_in order to obtain, something of equal value must be lost…"_

"…_but equivalent exchange is nothing more than a theory…"_

* * *

Chapter Five:

The doorknob turned, and the door opened slightly, as if the outcome of the surprise was going to be too much to bear. Al didn't want to look, but he had to know whether his brother was okay or not, just to give the empty hole inside of himself reassurance that it will be filled again. He opened the door open another crack, and was able to poke his head inside. He held a figurative breath and the sight that his eyes were bestowed upon would have made his blood run cold and his skin turn white if he had any. All he could do was to hold in the imaginary breath in his chest. He never knew the outcome would be this severe.

The lights were blaring, despite the time of day, and only seemed to make Edward's skin lighter, whiter, and more transparent than it already was. From under the sheets, a tiny structure could be noticed and would have made Al gag if he had the reflexes for it. Seemingly so, he held onto the door frame as if for dear life as he took in the scene around him.

Plenty of white, no doubt about it, and Al saw that Edward's blonde hair was still the magnificently blonde color that he had left him with, and stood out noticeably in the white room. If Alphonse didn't know better, and the blonde's hair had faded, Al wasn't sure that he would be able to pinpoint his brother on the bed, for he was that pale. Breathing came in shallow gasps and was labored from what Al's ears picked up. He opened the door wider, and noticeably this time, for before, it was only open at about a forty five degree angle from the wall that the door was produced from. Now, the door was wide enough that Al could slip through, and Al suddenly found the urge to get over to his brother at great speeds despite the paralyzing scene which Edward was incased in. The great speeds never came though as he took a slow, quiet step into the room. He closed the door gently behind him, and heard the soft click as the hinges recognized the door's place.

He took in the scene once more, his armor fully inside the room now, a part of his heart nagging at the turn of events that he had witnessed. If he were flesh, he would be shaking, hyperventilating, and perhaps breaking down into a crying coughing fit, yet the armor made no move to shake, and no sounds of breathing could truly be registered from him. He stood up straight and tall, the lack of lungs and a throat eliminating the possibility of coughing, and the lack of water and sodium in his body eliminating the crying possibility. He felt alone, unable to do what a normal human could do; unable to do what his brother could do. He truly and most sincerely felt alone.

Without hesitation, he slowly made his way towards his sleeping brother's form, yet sleeping could not be the most accurate word to describe Edward's condition, for nobody knew exactly when or_ if _Edward would wake up again. He shoved the last comment of his mind completely away. He wasn't raised to think that way. He shoved that comment out of his mind as well. It would only lead to his mother.

There was a chair pulled up nearby to Edward's bed and Al tried to think of who else would be here beside himself to see his brother.

Interrogators and investigators; Military Personnel.

He slowly brought himself down into the chair, being careful not to break anything, and looked to Edward's form once more, trying to take every single detail into his thoughts as he could. He saw Edward, simply said, but along with Edward came the sweaty, beady brow upon his face along with the constant shivering which was now noticeable from how close Al was to his brother. Al was able to decipher that Edward had a fever, which did not make him feel all of the merrier.

A thought was accompanied to Al's mind that he didn't know what his brother's injuries were. Lifting himself up from the seat he had resided in, he strode over to the base of the bed, where an accessible clipboard was perched there. Lifting it up from its resting place, Al skimmed it over, learning of Edward's injuries: Several cracked ribs, one broken. One broken leg, a minor concussion. _Damaged automail._

Winry was going to flip out…

Alphonse went over what seemed to be at least forever and a half, but had really been only a few hours. Edward had been fine earlier than day, in fact, Al had been listening to Edward as he rambled on about what Colonel Mustang had decided to give Edward as his next assignment after he captured the missing chimera. That assignment, though, had been canceled, or assigned to another officer. Nobody had told Alphonse; it was pretty much self explanatory.

Al felt an overwhelming feeling as he went through how so much had happened in so little time. He didn't believe that after only a month of peace and quiet from the last episode at Laboratory Five that there would be something more fatal and dangerous accompanied with it. Al mused for a moment about how Laboratory Five was probably cursed, but then went back to the more serious matter at hand: Edward wasn't okay. If he was, then he would have already awoken.

Al didn't want to believe that the pale figure before him was his brother, but the strikingly blonde hair proved him wrong. He felt that he could be in denial, but could hardly believe himself. He could hardly believe anything anymore. The events that had recently been played out for him seemed too perfect, or played out simultaneously, for it to be natural. He didn't think that the chimera accident was truly an "accident". Something was up, and Al knew it. Someone else was behind this tragedy, and Al knew that they wouldn't get away with it.

* * *

Mustang sat at his office, head in hands, and a bottle of whiskey at the corner of his desk, filled to the brim, waiting for its master to calm his nerves with it. Mustang surely felt like snapping his fingers a couple of times in someone's face for what the last four hours had come with. Interrogators, Investigators, civilians wanting to know what all of the commotion was about, and each one of them had questions, questions, and more questions. They wanted to know of Edward's age, weight, weight excluding automail, weight excluding body, hair color, eye color, height, height in last two years, height in last four years (which both causes were in only an inch different), eating habits, and everything else about him down to the last detail to what color pen he used whenever he had to do his reports on his fieldwork, which was always in black. They didn't have any special color ink for the military. They only had black.

Mustang picked up the bottle of whiskey and chugged a good fourth of it down, feeling a wave of dizziness as soon as he set the bottle down on the desk, meaning to set in down lightly, but the cause of everything on his desk shaking and wobbling. He placed his head in his hands once more. How oh how he wanted to reside for the night, sleep off the hangover in the morning, and then shoot blasts of fire into every single interrogators faces whenever they so much as stepped into the building, asking for a Colonel Must – Snap!

He looked to his Roman numeral clock on the other edge of his desk. Twelve thirty… and by the looks of the outside world, it was twelve thirty in the morning. He was the last person at headquarters, and he felt as if he could pass out at any moment – either from the exhaustion or the feeling of being on the verge of drunk. He slowly brought himself up, not swaying in the least regarding his dizziness, and headed for his door. He took the keys out of his pocket, turned off the lights, and locked the door behind himself.

As he walked down the hallway as orderly as he could, he remembered that he left the whiskey in his office, but he shrugged the thought aside. He wasn't an addicted alcoholic colonel who was desperate for his whiskey. No matter how much he preferred to sleep in, in the morning, he would just have to make do with the extra hour of sleep. He knew that the interrogators wouldn't want him alert when they found out what was in store for them.

Turning the corner in the hallway, he suddenly halted, but only briefly. He saw a light on in an office. Either there was still an officer here, or someone had forgotten to turn out a light. He sighed to himself, hoping that the person was still there, or he might have loose his temper and burn the headquarters down.

He walked a few steps forward until his slow thoughts caught up with his actions and he noticed that the office was one of Lieutenant Hawkeye. He sighed to himself, this time in relief. There was no way that he could burn down the headquarters with one of his most pleasurable work associates in the building. He strode up to the door, knocking on the open door twice. The lieutenant was sitting at her desk, filing paperwork. She looked up before he had made his first knock.

"May I help you, sir?" Hawkeye asked, exhaustion heavy in her voice, yet still sharp and quick, "It's past your hours."

"I believe so, and same with you," Mustang answered, a little uneasy, "What keeps you here at headquarters at night?"

"Paperwork on the chimera case with Elric," Mustang flinched when she spoke of Edward, "You assigned me Hughes's work until he returned. Frankly, I would have thought that you would have given an equal or higher up positioned officer the work sir," Hawkeye said, embarrassed, "Pardon me, sir."

"You're excused, and by my standards, you are much high ranked an officer as anyone else here."

"I do prefer doing field work more than the required paper work, though sir," Hawkeye mused, "You could have gotten someone else to do it."

"Every officer has their fair share of paper work and even Fullmetal will have to catch up on his paper work once he gets out of the hospital and back into headquarters; where he belongs." Mustang said, his voice rising up for no explored reason as he reached the end of his sentence. Hawkeye fell silent as his voice rose up into an annoyed yell. He clearly wasn't happy with Edward not having a successful mission.

Hawkeye sighed, "It's about time that the both of us are to head home. It sounds as if you're starting to go crazy sir."

"I do believe that I'm sane enough not to go insane, but it is late. We should both retire for the night." Mustang said, agreeing with the lieutenant.

Mustang headed out of Hawkeye's office and down the hallway, having no intention of waiting for her and escorting her down. He was confused, and he wasn't sure why the hell he had been mad about Edward a second earlier, when he knew that he shouldn't have been. There was no intended purpose. Perhaps he had drunk more whiskey than he had thought, and he was having some case of temporary insaneness. He would only tell in the morning, to see what the hangover had to say. Yet, he normally didn't get drunk over a small sip. It normally took him about three bottles for the feeling of being drunk to kick in, but that was with lighter alcohols, so he couldn't tell. But he knew that something wasn't right, and he wasn't sure why his conscious was keeping him from seeing why.

"Wait, sir!" He heard Hawkeye's voice come from behind him. He slowly turned around to see Hawkeye catch up with him and face him, her eyes sharper than he had ever seen Hawkeye's eyes before.

"Sir, I have to tell you something." Hawkeye stammered through her speech. This was a first for her, "Earlier tonight, when I was with Edward at the hospital, he said something, and I want to know if you know if it has anything to do with this case. Sir… it scared me to death."

Mustang was on full alert now. He had never heard Hawkeye admit that she was scared. This was also a first.

"What did he say?" Mustang's voice dark, and full of authority.

"_Homunculi…" _Hawkeye whispered.

Mustang's eyes went wide at this. Homunculi were the cause of the last accident with the Elric brothers at Laboratory Five. Mustang wondered slightly for a moment if they could be the cause of this accident at the same laboratory. He soon found that it was inevitable. The homunculi were trying to get Edward to create a real Philosopher's Stone for them only a month ago, and it seemed likely that a month later, they would try to get back at Edward for not completing the stone. As he realized this, his eyes set to Hawkeye's.

"Lieutenant, call in security. Have the military hospital guarded always from the outside and then outside Fullmetal's room. I don't want anyone getting into that hospital without my consent, understood?" Mustang commanded.

"Yes sir." Hawkeye saluted, and then hurried down the hallway, towards her office.

No visitors were entering the hospital that night.

And no visitors would be leaving.

* * *

Al stayed at Edward's bedside for an entire ten minutes, and the nurse hadn't come back to tell him that his time was up. He was grateful that the nurse was merciful, because he didn't want to have to leave his brother's side. He had himself convinced that if he left, that his brother might break his fever and rise up, yet he was also convinced that if he left, Edward might get worse or even die. No matter how much Alphonse didn't wish to witness his brother's death, he couldn't bring himself to leave his brother's side, for whatever the reason may be.

A couple times in the ten minutes Al had been there, he saw his brother's fingers twitch or even his lip quiver, but neither were followed up by a fluttering of the eyes, or even a mutter or anything. Al wasn't sure whether the tiny movements meant anything, but they helped him stay sane, because he was on the verge of hysteria.

Al was feeling terrible for his brother, more terrible than he had for him when the first accident happened at Laboratory Five with him. Seeing as this was no different except for the fact that Edward's state was much worse for wear than it was then. Alphonse may have felt bad for his brother, yet he also had the nagging feeling that he wanted to knock Edward's head to the side, or more reasonable, the colonel's head to the side, for not having Edward go in with backup, but he knew that he shan't have to. Whenever Winry got the call that Edward was here, she would have heads rolling; whether or not they were even involved or not.

Al took his brother's hand gently in his own metal hand, hoping that he could gain a bit more reassurance from it, or even better, that Edward would wake up at the touch of the cold metal, but to no avail, Edward didn't give Al any acknowledgement that he knew that Al was there. Al gave a quick, tearless sob, one that held many emotions, and bended his head down close to their hands. He wasn't sure what to do, but he knew that some people on the world prayed whenever they wanted something. He didn't know who he was praying to, but he was open for anyone. He felt like shaking; he knew he would be if he were flesh. He quickly prayed for his brother's safe return into the world again, whoever or whatever would be able to grant it to him.

He slowly moved his head up and placed his brother's limp arm back onto his chest. He took one last glance at his brother before standing up and heading towards the door. He wasn't sure that he could stand another minute in there, no matter what the outcome of his brother would be. If he gained consciousness while he was gone, then so be it. If he…died while Al was away then… so be it.

Alphonse walked towards the door that led out into the hallway. He wasn't sure where that nurse had decided to disappear to, but he decided that it really didn't matter, for what came next to him gave him the slightest clue.

He put his metal hand on the metal door knob and turned it one way. The door didn't budge. He tried the other way. Still, the door didn't budge.

Alphonse was locked in the room.

* * *

Edward seemed calm in his mind despite the possibility of the chimeras being homunculus. He seemed to be as calm as a sleeping baby. Edward looked the direction of the mirrors once again. The chimeras were in front of the mirrors and the reflections still contained Lust, Envy, and Wrath. But there was a new character in the picture. Beside the mirrors, was yet another homunculi. She stood there in her true form, unlike the form of the chimeras that the other homunculi were posing as. She stood there, long and graceful, and her appearance brought back some good and bad memories.

For she was Sloth.

The sin that was made by he and his brother. The sin that was made to be their mother, but that he and his brother had failed at. In that one sight, he saw his greatest regrets, and his greatest losses; his greatest embarrassments, and his greatest enemy. She was the one that he and his brother had created, so she was the one that they needed to get rid of. Completely, they needed to get rid of all of the homunculi, but she had to be first, since she was their fault – his fault.

Edward took a closer look at the scene. It showed that she was wearing what looked to be a nurse's uniform. It was strange that she should be wearing that from her usual ensemble, but Edward ignored it. He watched as she slowly moved to the side and into another picture. A new one that contained Al, and only him. He stood straight, as if he was lifeless, but Edward knew better. She went to him and knocked off his helmet. She then jumped stealthily into his armor and put the helmet back on his head. She then was able to control his exterior from the interior, controlling his every move. Edward only had one word for what she was doing.

Sabotage…

Edward tried to call out Al's name, but found to no avail that his voice was not working properly. He wanted to get his attention, to perhaps get Sloth's attention, but his voice was not producing a sound. Sloth controlled Al gracefully, as Al walked as he would have if he weren't controlled out of the picture and back into the picture of the homunculi. He stood next to the mirrors once again as Sloth was before, and from what Edward saw, it looked as if he had an alliance with them.

But Edward knew better than that.

* * *

As you were right, and I was wrong.  
This chapter took longer to write than I thought. I apologize.

Once again, you have witnessed magnificence by myself.  
…I'm sorry. That wasn't humble, was it?

Well anyways, I lost my voice, sucks right?  
It was probably screaming my head off for Jasper, wasn't it?  
…No. I have the worst cough ever and it kills.  
Note to self: Don't share coffee at lunch with best friends.

So the usual: Review, reply, and criticism is oddly acceptable. Tell me what I can fix…

With love,

liveyourlifexx


End file.
